The DMK has, in a memorandum to Vice-President C.P. Radhakrishnan, urged his intervention in moving the Centre to implement various long-pending demands, including Statehood, for the Union Territory of Puducherry.
In the memorandum, Leader of Opposition and DMK convenor R. Siva, who led a delegation to meet the Vice President during his recent visit to Puducherry, stated that while the Prime Minister had made a commitment for BEST (Business, Education, Spirituality, Tourism) Puducherry, many demands crucial to the U.T. were pending with the Centre.
The memorandum sought immediate attention to the long-pending pleas for the waiver of legacy loans, reopening of shuttered textile, spinning and sugar mills, and financial aid for industrialising the 800 acre of land acquired at Setharapet. A special scheme for promotion of tourism across the U.T. was also sought.
The memorandum cited as among the various anti-people measures launched by the Government toeing the line of the Centre, the closure of ration shops, the hurried introduction of CBSE syllabus across schools in place of the Tamil Nadu School Board system being successfully followed all these years, and the move to privatise the electricity sector.
The DMK urged the Union Government to place the Karaikal Port under government control. Handing over the port to a private entity had choked a vital source of revenue for the Puducherry government.
It also called for fast-tracking several stalled projects including the Chennai-Marakkanam-Pondicherry-Cuddalore and the Tindivanam-Pondicherry-Cuddalore railway lines, the Panithittu-Moorthikuppam coastal tourism scheme to improve the livelihoods of fishermen and the breakwater construction project in the region.
The DMK memorandum also echoed the appeal made by Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, in seeking the implementation of 25% quota for domicile students in various programmes offered by the Pondicherry Central University, which had evolved on 300 acres of land provided by the Government of Puducherry. It pointed out that an earlier system of reservation for locals in admissions had been discontinued. A similar preferential quota for faculty and staff appointments had also been stopped and required to be restored to protect the interests of native students and unemployed youth, the memorandum stated.
The memorandum also flagged the declining privileges for locals in jobs at Jipmer, which was also an institution that benefited from government-provided land. It is essential that at least 50 percent of the jobs are guaranteed for the people of Pondicherry. Similarly, medical treatment should be provided completely free of charge, the memorandum said.
The DMK also sought a thorough probe into the counterfeit drug manufacturing scam that would bring to book all involved to restore public confidence.
Published – December 31, 2025 08:22 pm IST
